Shenna Bellows

Party: DemocratState: MaineWhat you need to know: Bellows is a progressive coalition-builder with a strong passion for nuclear policy and national security issues.

Democrat - Challenger
Endorsed for U.S. Senate by Council for a Livable World Candidate Fund

Council for a Livable World is pleased to endorse Shenna Bellows, a progressive Democrat from Maine who is challenging longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Bellows brings to the race years of experience building coalitions across party lines and a strong grassroots focus.

Shenna Bellows is a longtime progressive activist who is skilled at building coalitions across party lines.

The daughter of a carpenter and a nurse, Bellows grew up in Hancock, Maine and graduated from Middlebury College. After working for a number of years in the fields of economic development both in the US and abroad, she went on to serve for eight years as Executive Director of the Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. There, she focused on such issues as same-sex marriage and domestic surveillance. She worked extensively on a successful 2012 campaign for marriage equality in Maine, as well as on a privacy initiative to require warrants for the government to access cell phone records and a move to make voting in the state easier.

On Council for a Livable World’s issues, Bellows is both passionate and well-versed. She supports further reductions to US and Russian nuclear arsenals, a rapid end to the war in Afghanistan, and a diplomatic solution with Iran rather than the use of force. To some degree, her passion for our issues runs in the family: her father was an anti-nuclear activist, and Bellows speaks passionately about the early age at which she learned of the dangers of nuclear war. She has strong potential to be a champion on national security issues if elected to the Senate.

Bellows believes that her ability to build unconventional coalitions of progressives and libertarians, along with the small size of Maine and its history of an independent voting streak, position her well to challenge incumbent Susan Collins. When she first ran for Senate, Collins promised to serve only two terms. She is now going for her fourth.

Though Collins is a popular incumbent and an excellent fundraiser, Bellows managed to out-raise her in the final quarter of 2013. Still, the challenger is likely to have a financial disadvantage against Collins – one that she hopes to overcome by soliciting widespread grassroots support.

Running against Senator Collins will be an uphill battle. But Shenna Bellows is confident in her ability to unite Maine voters behind her candidacy. Council for a Livable World believes that Bellows has what it takes to defeat Collins and bring a unique progressive voice to the U.S. Senate.